Christian Churches

World Magazine offers a look at why few in the Deaf Community are involved in Christian Churches.

Health Care Reform

None of the the current health reform proposals before Congress would pay for adults' hearing aids. However, there are proposals in both the House and Senate that would give a tax break for hearing aid purchases. And the legislation in the House does provide more coverage for children’s hearing aids.

Deaf Hikers Rescued

A police dog helped officers find three hikers lost in a swampy area near Jacksonville, Florida. WTEV-TV has this video report.

Hearing Aids & Insurance

Most private insurance plans (and Medicare) will not pay for hearing aids, just for a doctor visit to decide if an aid is needed or not. Cochlear implants are an exception - but only if you have severe hearing loss. Patients covered by Veterans Affairs programs and some federal employee insurance may get some help. But even private plans that DO cover hearing aids will often only give less than $1000 toward the cost. Hearing aids generally run about $2,000 each.

NFL Rookie

A rookie on the Houston Texans was born deaf because of a tumor. Defensive end Connor Barwin endured years of surgery before the full tumor was completely removed. That left him with about two-thirds of his hearing intact in his left ear. An All-Big East tight end as a junior at Cincinnati, Barwin switched to his present position during his senior year and still made All-Big East defensive end. As a pro, he may spend time at linebacker, tight end and on special teams. Here's more on Connor.

Officer Investigated

A Mobile, Alabama police officer is on administrative duty after using pepper spray and tasering a deaf man. A preliminary investigation by the city's Internal Affairs Unit was completed today. Officials are looking into why the officer used force against Antonio Love last Friday and then tried to have the deaf man charged with several crimes. Love's family has filed a formal complaint with the Mobile Police Department.

Internal Investigation

An internal police report about the tasing of a deaf man is expected out today. Officers in Mobile, Alabama tasered and pepper sprayed Antonio Love after the mentally disabled man didn’t come out of a Dollar General bathroom when they shouted at him through the door. They used a tire iron to force the door open, Love was frightened and pushed back. The officers saw he held an umbrella and demmed it a weapon, justifying the use of pepper spray. Even after discovering he was deaf, the officers still tried to book him on resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and failure to obey a police officer. The case against Love was thrown out by a magistrate. Otherwise he would have been placed in jail. Here is Love's version of what happened.

Juror Bill Rejected

North Carolina lawmakers have sent a bill back to committee that would have allowed the deaf to serve on juries. The vote was 65 to 48. That probably means the measure will die in committee and there will be no law supporting deaf jurors in the state any time soon. Orange County Democrat Bill Faison promises to submit the bill again. Here's a history of the bill.

Travel Guides

A California company is offering multimedia travel guides especially for the deaf. Visual Travel Tours calls its text and photo presentations QuietGuides. They are designed for viewing on smartphones, cell phones, PDAs and desktops. More than 100 guides are already available. The files are small since they don’t include video, making them a better fit for devices with limited storage. Customers use credit cards to purchase and download the tours from the online site.

More on Tasing

Here's another video report from WALA-TV in Mobile about the tasing of a deaf man. Police are investigating the incident where officers pepper sprayed and then tased a deaf man in the restroom of a Dollar General store. Those who work closely with the deaf community say proper training is sometimes lacking when officers encounter the deaf. The man's family has filed a formal complaint against the officers.

Implant Software

KFSN-TV reports on a software program put together at the University of Florida that makes cochlear implants functure better.

Deaf Man Tasered

Police in Mobile, Alabama pepper sprayed and then tased a deaf man who was using the rest room at a store last Friday because the man didn't obey their orders to come out. An internal investigation is now underway.

Click here for the text of the video.

Suit Over School Closing

Parents of students at the South Dakota School for the Deaf are suing to keep it open. The governor wants to close the campus to save money and points to dropping enrollment as justification for the move. Only a couple of dozen students were taught at the campus last year, though more than 400 received services at other local school districts. Parents point out that the state constitution requires education officials to run a public school for the deaf and federal funding from the Department of Education obligates state officials to provide an education for students with disabilities. The govenor has proposed an alternative plan but the parents say it won’t work because there are not enough interpreters in rural areas to meet the needs of students. The Board of Regents will offer a recommendation on closure but the final decision rests with the South Dakota Legislature.

Robbery Gone Wrong

Police in Las Vegas are searching for two juveniles who shot and killed a deaf man in Ansan Sister City Park. Kevin Franchow could not hear their demands that he hand over money while he was walking through the park. Police say Franchow had nothing of value on him at the time. He lived with his elderly mother and walked the park at night to help control his diabetes. Here's a video report on the crime from Las Vegas television news KVVU-TV.

Deaf Baseball Player

Tyson Gillies is working his way into Major League Baseball. Although the Seattle Mariners prospect is deaf, his sharp play in single-A ball is getting some serious attention. The center fielder batted a hefty.322 in the leadoff slot with 66 runs scored and 25 stolen bases for the High Desert Mavericks out of Adelanto, California. The 20-year-old Gillies recently played in the World Team at the annual Futures Game in St. Louis. The Vancouver native wears hearing aids and was born with 35% hearing in one ear and 50% hearing in the other. Here's a video of Tyson in action.

Hearing on School Closing

Kansas may close its school for the deaf in Olathe or merge it with the state school for the blind in Kansas City. A panel will hold a hearing on the issue today. The Kansas State School for the Deaf serves more than 100 students with a $9.5 million budget and about 150 employees.

Ohio Juror Dispute

The Ohio Supreme Court will hear a case involving whether a deaf person should have been allowed to sit on a jury. Linda Leow-Johannsen heard the trial of a man convicted involuntary manslaughter. But his conviction was overturned by an appeals court. It ruled that Leow-Johannsen should not have been allowed to serve on the jury because she couldn't hear the 911 tape introduced as evidence.

Defense attorneys tried to have Leow-Johannsen removed from the jury even before the trial started because she acknowledged that her hearing-impairment might make it harder for her to follow the trial. But she told the judge she didn't think it would be a problem for her to serve on the jury. The judge denied the defense motion. Leow-Johannsen reads lips and has some residual hearing and did not use a sign-language interpreter during the trial. The prosecutor credits her with being more attentive during the trial than most jurors.

The man convicted in the trial, Scott Speer, claims his friend, Michael Barnett, fell off their boat in the middle of the night during poor weather. But prosecutors convinced the jury Speer had pushed his friend overboard. He’s now serving a four year sentence.

The Ohio Legal Rights Service is supporting Leow-Johannsen's right to serve on the jury along with the National Association of the Deaf and the Ability Center of Greater Toledo.

Film Debut

A documentary put together by a deaf company premieres tonight at The Little Theater in Rochester, New York. Discovering Deaf Worlds filmed Discovering: Shuktara in India at a home for young adults. In a previous post we gave you the trailer. Here's a longer report on the film from WHAM-TV.

Carolina Jurors

North Carolina lawmakers will consider a bill this week that would allow the deaf to sit on juries and guarantee an interpreter for them, though lawyers or judges could still reject deaf jurors just because they have a hearing loss.

Here are some of the comments of state representatives quoted in local papers on the topic:

"This is one example of taking political correctness too far. We can't have quadriplegics running track, nor do we need to have deaf persons serving on juries." - Pembroke Democrat Ronnie Sutton

"A hearing impaired juror who has the capacity to participate fairly and impartially ought to be allowed.” - Fayetteville Democrat Rick Glazier

"There may be plenty of people who can hear but don't listen.” - Raleigh Democrat Deborah Ross

VRI Investigation

A Maryland video interpreting company worked with an interpreting agency whose owners were recently arrested. That's why investigators recently searched Viable’s headquarters in Rockville. An employee reportedly claims the company regularly billed for calls that were not properly interpreted. According to the employee, someone was paid to make run calls - lenghty video relay calls - in order to bill the government large sums of money.

The owners of Innovative Communication Services for the Deaf based in Florida are facing charges of conspiracy to defraud the government. Yosbel Buscaron and Lazaro Fernandez deny the charges. They were supposed to provide a Spanish language capability for video relay services.

Viable offers both hardware and software for videoconferencing and interpreters, both video-based and on-site. Many members of the staff are deaf themselves.